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Inside The Bills

Last week we published a story about the Bills helmet color change from white to red in 1984 being tied to then Bills QB Joe Ferguson. On the whole that was accurate. However, the assertion that the Wall of Famer was color blind was not.

Joe Ferguson is not color blind at all. Having corresponded and apologized to him personally for the inaccuracy of the story Joe re-hashed how the whole myth of him being color blind started.

“The color blind parts all came from the media,” Ferguson told Buffalobills.com. “At the time of the change of colors we were in a down time with the team and the media was looking for anything to write. Everyone we played had white helmets at that time. Our new head coach Kay Stephenson just wanted to get more of a contrast on the field that may help spot a receiver down the field.”

So while the helmet color change was predicated on improving completion percentage and reducing interceptions, which obviously involve the quarterback, Ferguson’s ability to distinguish colors was and always has been fine. We’ve since revised the story on Buffalobills.com to correct the inaccuracies.